Arctic
Arctic MUD is a MUD, a text-based multiplayer online role-playing game, set in the world of the popular Dragonlance fantasy series. Arctic opened in March 1992. The player creates and develops an in-game persona, advancing their character to higher levels through adventuring, defeating monsters and completing quests. Development The game was originally based on the DikuMUD codebase, but the code has been modified to add to the mechanics and player classes. Gameplay The game currently consists of effectively fourteen playable classes (known as guilds): Barbarian, Cleric, Druid, Dark Knight, Mage (three types), Paladin, Scout (three types), Shaman, Thief, and Warrior. Cleric, Druid, Mage (Black, Red, or White Robe), and Shaman are spellcasters who rely mainly on magical spells to further their ends. Barbarian, Dark Knight, Paladin, Scout (Mountain, Ocean, or Sky), and Warrior are fighters who mainly use weapons and skills to combat their opponents. Spellcasters develop their repertoire of spells through adventuring and acquiring Cleric prayer books, Druid tablets, Mage spell books, or Shaman charms. Fighter classes develop their skills through combat and training. Some fighter classes (Dark Knight, Scout and Paladin) also have limited magical or magic-like abilities. The game mechanics are loosely based on a system akin to Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (AD&D). Each character has six natural ability scores (or stats) ''randomly rolled when the character is created: Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Dexterity, Constitution and Charisma. These can be further modified with equipment and spells. The spell system, true to AD&D, is one of memorization and spell slots as opposed to the mana system used by many MUDs. Player characters begin at level 1 and advance their character towards the highest player level of 30. With each level gain, the character increases in power. Almost simultaneously, players also increase "ranks" by collecting rank points awarded when defeating powerful foes. These points may be saved up and spent on bonuses, chosen from an extensive list, including the ability to boost the stats. While unlimited, each rank becomes progressively harder to acquire. Quests Players often will run into mobiles that are either the beginning, or part of, a quest chain that results in rewards of items, money, experience or any combination thereof. Quests are not linear, with a certain chain of events that is outlined for the player to complete, but rather are reflections of what people in similar situations would say, act like or attempt in real life. Public contributions Arctic MUD developers Dean Gaudet and Jeffery Stine contributed a software patch to correct a common Internet socket problem in DikuMUDs. Reception In 1996, Arctic MUD was used as an example of a MUD to connect to using TinyFugue in ''Internet After Hours. Arctic MUD is included in The Historical DikuMUD List hosted on the official DikuMUD web site, marking it as one of the longest-running DikuMUDs. Current state of affairs On July 9, 2017 the moderators decided to reduce all PvP damage to nearly zero on a trial basis. References }} External links *Arctic MUD official site *Listing on The Mud Connector *telnet://mud.arctic.org:2700 mud.arctic.org 2700 Category:MUD games